GAA President Aodhán O Fearghail was forced into another defence of the Association’s media rights deal with Sky yesterday at the launch of the closing stages of the All Ireland Football Championship.
Pointing to the overwhelming majority in favour of the deal at recent Congresses he insisted there was no going back to the days when the GAA had to pay RTÉ to provide coverage and then only from the All Ireland semi finals on.
The media market for all sports is ever more fractured and while it may sit uncomfortably with some there really is no going back.
The heat will rise again over coming weekends as Sky enters a period which includes exclusive coverage of Cork against Mayo and Galway against Donegal in Saturday’s Final round of the Football Championship qualifiers and the Dublin and Tyrone Quarter Finals in two weeks time.
There will once again be calls for the GAA to act and make these games accessible but they would be more akin to the demands of King Canute to stop the tide as they would to any rational look at how the media operates in the 21st century.
Game of Thrones has dominated social and mainstream media conversation over recent weeks with the start of a new series on Sky Atlantic in the past 48 hours.
This big budget series was only available to viewers who pay for their television channels through Sky and in this case there was no option to either go to see the battles for Kings Landing live or indeed to listen to live commentary and analysis on the radio as will be the case for all of the Sky games and was always the only way to engage from afar in days gone by.
The action at this time of year does come thick and fast and RTÉ will draw a big audience for the two All Ireland Hurling Championship Quarter Finals on Saturday and Sunday at what is likely to be a sold out Pairc Uí Chaoimh.
RTÉ announced yesterday that all their remaining games in the Championship will also carry Irish language as well as English commentary for viewers watching through Saorview, eir or Sky.
This step up from only two games when the dual option was introduced two years ago is a ‘significant step and a reflection of RTÉ’s commitment to Irish language broadcasting,” according to RTÉ Group Head of Irish Language Rónán Mac Con Iomaire
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